Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1887-06-09
The TRADE IN SALT.
Why the United States Have to Import 4
Much of This Commodity.

Why the United States Have to Import So
Much Of This Commodity.
mot many people know that in spite
Of the wonderful salt wells and salt de-
posts in this country we annually inn
port immense quantities of salt" said
II. B. Miller, commission merchant,
the other day. "Our importations are
constantly increasing, too, although the
output OF our own salt factories kecns
pace with the growth Of the population,
and there is considerable duty on all
kinds of salt The reason is that GER
tain fine grades and special kinds Of
salt are not made in this country. You
can get about as good dairy or table
salt from the New York or Michigan
wells as from anywhere in the world,
but you can't get the coarse salt used
in packing meats for export, the quickly
dissolving Turk Island salt used in the
ice cream factories, nor the curious
Spanish salts that the street-car COM
panies sprinkle on their tracks when
they think Henry Bergh isn't looking.
All the domestic salt, except that which
is mined in Louisiana, is made by eyap-
Grating, by artificial heat, brine pumped
out of the earth. The very valuable
coarse salt which we import is made by
evaporating sea water in the open air.
1t is made where people can afford tc
wait three or four months for a few
dollars. Where's thatP Well, along
the Mediterranean, for instance. Tho
people there dam up little bay and
wait till the sun and the winds have
carried the water away. 1t isn't very
pure salt that they scrape up off the
mud, but it is indispensable for some
purposes.
1.-The experiment of making solar sal
has been tried in this country, but with
out much success. The quality of TIN
sea water varies good deal. 1t will
deposit one kind of salt on one island
and another perceptibly different, ever
to the eye, on another island perhap
not more than forty miles away. w
do an immense trade with the Yves
Indies in salt. There are a doze
places that furnish altogether differen
kinds of salt, and each has its particu
lar use. One very fine and easil
soluble variety is used in the flavorini
of chewing tobacco. Not many chewer
know that, but they would find OH
very quickly that something was lacb
ing if the salt should be omitted. Som
physicians have thought that the pres
ence of the salt makes the tobacco yer
injurious.
There isn't so much English dair
salt imported as there used to be. A
one time manufacturers of fine butte
thought that their products would b
utterly ruined if any thing but fine En-
glish salt touched them. 1t isn't S
now. For one reason, American sal
makers have learned the trick of maxim
good dairy salt, and for another, Amer
can salt has got to be wonderfully cheal
Out in the Saginaw region of Michiga
the salt wells are right by the side {
the big lumber mills. All that is nece
sary is to attach to the mill machinel
pump to draw up the brine and fee
the saw-dust and timber waste, whic
would otherwise be thrown away, to tt
evaporating kettles. In that way sa
can be made for about twelve cents
bushel. Gentlemen who own salt wei
and lumber mills in Michigan are usual
rich enough to buy out an ordinal
State.-N. Y. Commercial Advertiser.